I just got back from three weeks in Switzerland, where I had to explain what personal branding is to a large number of people. During these various discussions, one comment came up often: “I don’t want to change anything, because I want to stay authentic.”
For some, building one’s personal brand is seen as an act of embellishing reality, or even manipulation. An unnatural approach to creating “another than oneself,” an avatar doped with EPO who would be more intelligent, more talented, more handsome, etc. In the end, a seductive mask that is more “everything” and less “oneself.” The idea of not acting can therefore seem attractive to those who want to promote a true image of themselves.
Personal brand and authenticity are not two irreconcilable concepts.
In this holiday season, what better way to illustrate my point than to talk to you about turkey with chestnuts? A little explanation…
Christmas is coming and some of you will probably have friends over for dinner. What are you going to do?
I’m willing to bet that your first instinct will be to clean your home from top to bottom. There’s no way one of your guests will come face to face with an orphaned and somewhat smelly sock. Not everything has to be perfect, no. We’re not at the Ritz after all. A friendly atmosphere will be perfect. You will then prepare a beautiful table and take out your tablecloth for special occasions. You will find a YouTube channel with a video of a fireplace to broadcast on your television to create a warm atmosphere and make your friends laugh. Because yes, your friends are at the center of this little preparation work. You want to please them and show them that you are an exceptional host. What better way to prove it than to cook your beloved grandmother’s famous turkey with chestnuts? It is a unique family recipe that earns you the best compliments every time. Plus, your friends love it. You can already imagine which bottle of wine you will take out of your cellar to create the perfect marriage that will please your guests.
But in doing all this, are you staying authentic?
You may very well decide that your friends should know you as you usually are, without any fuss or glitter. A plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce eaten straight from the pan in front of the television should do the trick (if that never happens to you, sorry for the allusion). As for the visual of the dining room, your messy side should please them. Deep down, it’s you and you have nothing to hide.
Your greatest talent, you know, is your memory. Your guests will therefore only appreciate a recitation of the complete collection of La Fontaine’s fables. And after all, why not order the food from a caterer? You can always tell them that you cooked, they will probably never know.
Would such an approach make you uncomfortable?
There is no shame in highlighting what you do best and appearing in your best light. Choosing the talents to highlight should be carefully considered to be relevant to your guests. Your friends will probably have a better evening if you make the effort to cook (if that is one of your talents) rather than explaining for the 39th time how the fox ends up getting the cheese. Let’s first go back to your initial goal: to please your friends. You would like them to praise your cooking skills and keep a good memory of this evening. Being authentic does not mean not making an effort.
Inventing qualities that you do not have often turns out to be counterproductive. Imagine the rumors that could start circulating about you after you swear to your friends that you hunted and prepared the delicious Christmas turkey, served straight from the caterer’s box.
If we return to the concept of personal branding, we see that digital has changed a lot of things. With information transparency, anyone can invite themselves into your home, into your “digital kitchen,” and then imagine what kind of professional you are.
So we have two possible options:
– Do nothing and give anyone the freedom to define us based on the information available. It may be incomplete and give an inaccurate image of who we really are. But if someone is wrong about us due to lack of information, are we truly preserving our authenticity?
– Act proactively by highlighting a set of talents that we possess, valued in the eyes of those whose attention we wish to attract. A strong personal brand is built without a mask. It is therefore about bringing greater clarity to who we really are and thus having greater control over how we are perceived.
Staying authentic means refusing to allow your personal brand to be misinterpreted. Personal branding aims to make the necessary choices to clarify your positioning, highlight your talents, and strengthen your professional legitimacy.
After all, if you make an effort to host your friends at your home, why wouldn’t you make an effort to manage your personal brand?
